<p>Glad you had an OK run, MOfWC. Deer are super cute (as long as they don’t leap out of the bushes right in front of you!). All I’ve seen here along my suburban trail are Canada geese, ducks, bald eagles and blue herons. It is raining, but the weatherman said it would get drier in a couple of hours, so I’m getting my running gear ready and watching the skies.</p>
<p>Just weighing in to share my new fav healthy breakfast.</p>
<p>Stir together:</p>
<p>Fage plain strained Greek yogurt (full fat - you only need 1/2 cup because it’s so rich)</p>
<p>Little bit of Grade B Vermont maple syrup from Trader Joe’s (VT friend told me once Grade B is tastier than A and she’s so right)</p>
<p>Old fashioned quaker oats (I like these better than the steel cut which have the groats and I find to be off putting – plus much cheaper and quicker to cook)</p>
<p>It’s really yummy and gives me tons of energy. Plus the Greek yogurt seems to give it that extra protein boost over milk so I don’t get hungry for many hours.</p>
<p>1.5 hours of tennis (two sets of doubles and some singles hitting).</p>
<p>The interesting thing is that I forgot to bring my knee braces but I was fine without them.</p>
<p>Short, steep a.m. Hike to find a geocache, which was kind of fun. Waiting for a break in the weather to go biking, but it may not happen. I’ve done my share of training in the rain, but that is not what I envisioned for this weekend. Now off pouting in a corner.</p>
<p>My wife pulled out some of my old clothes - a few pairs of pants in 34 and 36 and about 7 Polos in size L and M. I’m moving the bigger clothes down to the basement and digging out my old stuff out of storage containers. I may have some usable smaller clothes.</p>
<p>How many rounds of pouting in a corner for today’s workout? 
Actually, hiking uphill is a fantastic workout. Never understimate the fat burning powers of the hill!</p>
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<p>MOWC:</p>
<p>The heart rate changes are very welcome, but they are forcing me to re-calibrate my expectations for a hard workout. Last year at this time, I would pooh-pooh any workout that didn’t drive my heart rate above 90% of max. Now, I can’t think like that anymore. There is no way I can sustain day after day after day with that kind of intensity. </p>
<p>I had a peak of 76% during yesterday’s core/strength workout.</p>
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<p>Now, that is cathartic!</p>
<p>Went to the doc this past week to get cholesterol checked. Hadnt been taking my lipitor for the past 6 months. Wanted to see if i could lower it with exercise/diet. 184 total. Doc thinks it is still too high. May pop a pill every other day? Mentioned to the doc the my lower left back hurt occaisonally. He thought it might be arthritis and suggested an xray. Results came back—My back xray shows grade 1 spondylolisthesis? Thing is-just a nagging pain after a run. Doesnt hurt that much? Have to go to a pt next week. Will be interesting to see how many of the rehab exercises are in the new cosgrove book I have now. I guess I shouldn’t have been doing the crunches. </p>
<p>Hope this doesn’t set back my training. Wanted to go under 20 for a 5k before October. Bummer.</p>
<p>Anyone else experience this?</p>
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<p>Yeah probably not.</p>
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<p>Got bad news for you… running and spondylolisthesis don’t mix very well…</p>
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<p>The hardest thing in the world is to stop doing workouts that are causing pain, but I really do believe it’s the best approach.</p>
<p>[Does</a> It Hurt?](<a href=“http://www.strengthcoach.com/public/1602.cfm]Does”>http://www.strengthcoach.com/public/1602.cfm)</p>
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<p>I’m sure we all have our little aches and pains that we try “to dance around”. It’s human nature. I still think the advice is correct and that we need to push ourselves to listen to it.</p>
<p>On a more positive note, it would not surprise me at all if a few months of NROL4ABS style core training largely takes care of your pain. That’s the whole idea of Stuart McGill’s approach to back pain. Stop doing the movements that cause the pain and strengthen all the muscles that protect the spine by holding it in alignment, even during exercise.</p>
<p>I’m really not in pain. Just nagging occasional ache.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on which core/strength to focus on and stay way from in the book? </p>
<p>Just got off the runners world forum and looks like it may be manageable. Get off the road and on grass/trails.
Cross-train on bike:elliptical:swimming:aqua-running.</p>
<p>To be safe, I am going to scale back mileage and focus more on core next two months.</p>
<p>ohiopublic, what age group are you in? A 5k under 20 min is a really, really tough goal to achieve. I will never be able to do this again in my life (a sub-20 5K was a bad day run for me when I was much, much younger). It sounds like you are doing all the right things: slowing down, scaling back, and introducing more variety. Good luck!</p>
<p>I had a fabulous run today: 14 miles, 1 hr 53 min. Nice and cool, with an occasional drizzle (and not too many piles of Canada goose doo to avoid).</p>
<p>Well, I did my usual 5K walk/jog and I didn’t some close to 20 minutes!</p>
<p>Kinda hot this afternoon. 89 degrees. I had no problem getting my heart rate up on the jogging intervals.</p>
<p>3 mile hike with the first half quite steep. Very happy to have completed it before the downpour.</p>
<p>We went to the YMCA where I exercised my eye muscles in reading a book. I took a three+ nap this afternoon. I felt totally exhausted - probably the accumulation of fatigue and aches from this past week. I’m wearing the really old clothes now (from my wife) and they feel fine - I still need to dig out the stuff from the basement.</p>
<p>BC, we all need that from time to time. You’ll be back on the horse tomorrow.</p>
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<p>I’m not surprised. For most people our age 20 minutes would be a respectable 5K time if you were running hard the whole way. That’s a pace of 6:26/mile.</p>
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<p>I would say that you can probably do all of them. Just stop if you feel any pain. I think the most common place people with lower back disk issues might feel it is when the back arches backwards. So, pay attention there if you start to sag when doing plank exercises or arch your back when pressing weights overhead. Both are signs that you’ve reached the limit at that particular moment for that particular set, regardless if you’ve reached the specificed number of seconds or reps in the book. I have to watch it when I’m pressing dumbbells overhead from a standing position. Too much weight or two many reps and my back starts arching like crazy (in an effort to turn it into an easier bench press). That’s also the end of the line for me on these stabilty ball mountain climbers.</p>
<p>The only weight lifting exercises in the book that I would be careful with as far as lower back goes are the two barbell deadlifts. I believe that Cosgrove’s intent is use them with moderate loads to really learn the movement pattern. Going too heavy with poor technique with a barbell deadlift is not a lower back friendly endeavor – although there’s kind of a gray area with strengthening the back extensor muscles (the equivalent of the abs on the backside) which could produce a little intiial muscle soreness and actually hurting the spine.</p>
<p>Bb</p>
<p>I’m 54. Former cc and track guy. Ran a 21:33 last week. Thought/ think I could/can get there but now if i have to scale back I don’t know.</p>
<p>My daughter was the motivation for me to get back into it. She ran under 20 last year as a freshman. I started running again so we could run together this summer.</p>
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<p>I don’t think I could run out of a burning building at a 6:26 pace! Speed is not my forte. I’m just happy when I don’t fall down and hurt myself! </p>
<p>I don’t want to jinx myself, but I do think losing weight and all the ankle mobility stuff in my workouts has reduced my risk of rolled/twisted ankles.</p>